Throwback Thursday: Nothing Can Top Doctor Chaos' Hypnosis Show
Throwback Thursday takes a look back into Beijing's past, using our nine-year-strong blog archives as the source for a glance at the weird and wonderful of yesteryear.
Oh, buddy, was September of 2007 keeping Beijingers at the edge of their seats! Beyond the usual restaurant openings and closings, free movie screenings, the (in)famous mooncake trials and errors, yet another attempt to standardize English translations, the whole of Beijing was holding their breath in anticipation of the show of Dr. Chaos.
Now, it is much less relevant that he was coming with a partner, named Damien Noir (just an alright name) or that they were going to demonstrate the power of hypnosis on stage, because when you name yourself Dr. Chaos, everything else in your life just fades into the background. If it sounds like something from X-Men, we are all on the same page. Just check out this majestic poster choice from their other shows. Yes, we understand that 2007 may not have been the best year for graphic design, but how about this gem, to be framed and put up on the wall in a bad spin-off for "Stranger Things".
The link to their website is currently filled with real estate and property tax advice blog posts, which could only mean two things: the hypnosis gig did not pan out, or there is an actual real estate agent team that is going under the name Dr. Chaos and Damien Noir. I have my fingers crossed for the latter. Fun fact: Originally from Canada, Dr. Chaos had mentioned he spent four years in China (by the time of the original interview published) and the last entry on his Wikipedia page states that he is still living in Beijing. The adventure started when he and Damien Noir ventured to tour in Asia and ended up staying. All joking aside, Dr. Chaos is the Training Expert and Supervisor for Clinical Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) for Tsinghua University.
The Beijinger team was able to chat with Dr. Chaos back in 2007, before his upcoming Beijing show. The standard questions about how he got interested in hypnosis were followed by more curious ones: what would happen if two hypnotists tried to hypnotize each other? Has he ever used his skills to pick up girls? (To which Dr. Chaos replied with the generic 'it can be done.) The showman also said he had helped a number of Chinese students prepare for their exams, which also included dealing with anxiety and stress before the event. While hypnosis therapy seems a little new-age for China, it could seemingly claim an important position between other TCM giants. 
Dr. Chaos may still be living in Beijing for all we know, since his latter work is slightly harder to track, except this 2016 show (picture above). You might just run into Dr. Chaos in the streets of our recently incredibly pleasant city, so keep your head clear and straight. Although, Dr. Chaos said no one can be hypnotized and made to bark or jump against their own will, better safe than sorry.
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Images: the Beijinger, Swift Current Online (2)
